Relentless villains or fervent netizens?: The alt-right community in Korea, Ilbe

Abstract

Previous studies on the alt-right, a far-right movement based online, focus on its rise in Western countries. Alt-right communities have emerged more publicly in recent years and have contributed to strengthening overt expressions of hate. Such studies, however, have rarely focused on the alt-right beyond Western countries. It is critical to delve into alt-right communities in other parts of the world in order to understand the institutionalized hate of contemporary digital mediascapes. From an online textual analysis, the current study traces the developmental process of Ilbe, a representative alt-right group of Korea: its transition from a digital storehouse for provocative jokes to an influential alt-right group, and finally, to a virtual hideout where people express their hatred toward others, putting aside its far-right ideology. In doing so, the current study investigates how this alt-right group shares significant characteristics of digital media culture and develop them in its own fashion. This research contributes to understanding Asian Internet histories, including an exploration of the alt-right community and its online culture of hate. Moreover, this study demonstrates how such a trend in digital media culture influences the larger society.

Keywords:

• Alt-right
• Ilbe
• participatory culture
• digital media subculture
• Korea

Acknowledgements

I thank Dr. Gerard Goggin, Dr. Haiqing Yu, and Dr. Kwang-Suk Lee for providing me with an opportunity to participate in this special issue of Internet Histories. I also thank the anonymous referees for their time and consideration.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 Internet user distribution in the world (https://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm)

2 Zazom is the coined term for za-pa (leftist, in Korean) and zombie. It refers to people who are brainwashed by the left wing, but who are not able to recognize it. This term is used derogatorily in Korean alt-right communities to insult people with a liberal political stance.

3 According to a Nielson KoreaClick PC/Mobile audience measurement report, 1,732,420 people visited Ilbe via mobile devices in April 2015. Ilbe was ranked 8^th in the most visited websites in Korea (data from a news article, “Corporation Ilbe, who are you?” of The Hankyoreh, 2015, May 15, available from http://www.hani.co.kr/arti/society/society_general/691488.html).

4 “kimchi bitch” refers to Korean women as gold diggers in Ilbe.